Free At Last
by The Mystic Avenger
Summary: Sapphire and Steel Set between Assignment 6 and The Passenger, Sapphire and Steel have been trapped in a cafe in nowhere, with no way out. The Mystic Avenger jumps in to help, but all of them discover a bigger problem than even Mystic can handle.


**FREE AT LAST**

_Once again, there is another plot continuity that unfortunately has not been dealt with, so it's my job to come in and clean up the mess. This one is purely a work of fiction, but it ties enough of the loose ends together, it should help problems for listeners of the Big Finish Series. (I will try to psychokinetically imprint this on the Sapphire and Steel universe, but I suspect the powers I answer to will forbid this from happening owing to jurisdictional issues pertaining to time and paratime.) So, enjoy. –Uthuriel._

"Take back time," said Steel, pacing back and forth. He pulled his hands through his hair, and chucked the portable chess set against the wall for the fiftieth time. Sapphire's eyes turned a bright turquoise and a humming could be heard as her eyes grew brighter and brighter until she collapsed gasping for breath.

"I...can't...Steel," she said between laboured breaths. "Like it or not, we're stuck here, so we might as well get used to it."

"What do you mean you can't?" asked Steel sitting down across from Sapphire and grasping her hands firmly. "No time has passed, so it should be possible for you to take back time to the last moment we saw that transient. We can be quicker on the draw and trap him here as opposed to us."

"I told you Steel," she said. "We're nowhere, and there isn't any time accessible to take back."

"Well what about contacting Destiny?" said Steel. "There has to be some way that we can get out of here. There is still a transient on the loose with time travel capability who could wreak untold havoc on time."

Sapphire smiled weakly as she shakily got up. "Well come and sit down and I'll make some coffee while we think of a way out of here."

All of a sudden, there was a flash of light and a crashing sound of crockery coming from the kitchen. Shortly after this, a man with wings about 5 feet in length, wearing a martial arts outfit and with a sword of light in his belt came stumbling into the room.

"I hope you won't mind the mess," the man said. "It's been a while since I've used this block transfer computational technique, and I think I became corporeal in the wrong spot."

Steel promptly rushed at the man grabbing him by the jacket. "Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?" he said.

The man punched Steel in the face, and then grabbed the elbow of Steel's right sleeve, and pulled down while chopping down on Steel's elbow sending him to the ground. He then placed Steel in an arm pin and said, "I will thank you NOT to attack someone coming to help 

you, and I'm going to hold you here until we calm down." At this point, Sapphire got up and gently laid her hand on the man's shoulder.

"I think what Steel means is, are you a transient coming to finish us off?" she said. "We are, after all, in the middle of nowhere, and no one but one of our own or a transient with a time travel device should be able to come here. You don't look like you work for our side or the Others." The man thought about this and then let Steel up, who promptly straightened his jacket and dusted himself off.

"My name is Uthuriel Rushenka," said the man. "My formal title is The Mystic Avenger, Paratime Angel Extraordinaire. From what I can see, you appear to be in a spot of bother."

"Quite right," said Steel. "What is an angel?"

Sapphire's eyes turned a bright blue again. "Angels," she said. "A race of winged humanoids developed in human mythology. Said to be servants of the human god, these beings possessed remarkable powers, including abilities to heal and kill with a single word."

"But then you're not really an angel," said Steel. "Again, who are you and why are you here?"

"As I've said before, I'm The Mystic Avenger, Paratime Angel Extraordinaire," said The Mystic Avenger. "Angels are not as mythological as humans twisted them to be. In our own language, we are called the Kanashuk, meaning 'Origin'. We are from Universe Sector 001, the universe that started it all. Two sentient races existed in our universe. The first evolved to become omnipotent within their own universe, and one of their race started creating other races by hyper-evolving lesser creatures in our universe, and then proceeded to start creating other universes through a process something similar to using a computer program to calculate and manipulate matter to cause them to evolve. The Kanashuk, better known to Humans as Angels, Devas, Kami or Polytheistic Gods, were this first sentient race that had their evolution speeded up. We developed partial powers pertaining to this. The one who hyper-evolved us and created the new universes, instructed a group of us to maintain timelines and the interaction between universes. That is the Angelic Paratime Force of which I am a member."

"So you're saying that you're not from our universe, but are here to make sure our timeline is maintained?" asked Sapphire.

"Effectively, yes" said The Mystic Avenger. "Basically, I do what you and Steel do, but on a much larger scale, with a greater number of timelines involved."

"That still doesn't explain why you're here," said Steel.

"Well that's simple enough, isn't it?" said The Mystic Avenger. "You're trapped in a pocket outside of time, between timelines and universe bubbles. As a result, that means you are 

in inter-dimensional territory and therefore fall under angelic jurisdiction. As your universe happens to fall into my sheaf, the job of freeing you and helping you set the timeline right in your universe falls to me."

"Well then what are we waiting for?" said Steel. "Get us out of here."

"Not quite yet," said The Mystic Avenger. "First things first, this physical body is getting a bit hungry, so we'd better fuel it before we head out, and there are a couple of things I want to get brought up to speed on. Transient beings are a species unique to your universe, so I want to know everything you can tell me about them."

Meanwhile, in 2048, a couple were seeing the sights on a lunar colony, and laughing as they walked along.

"Oh Reginald, darling," said the woman. "Can't we take part in one little bet? We have all of time at our disposal. Why don't we gamble a little bit and make ourselves richer than Midas?"

"All right, Lucinda, dearest, but don't get too carried away," said Reginald. "We want to wreak havoc, but subtly so we don't draw attention to ourselves."

"From who, these yokels?" Lucinda chuckled. "Ever since we trapped the great Sapphire and Steel, there isn't really anyone who can stop us, since the other 109 are busy dealing with other cracks."

Reginald smiled. It had been 2 months subjective time since he, a transient being, and his love from 1948 had trapped Sapphire and Steel in a pocket dimension. The two had gone travelling through time for fun as a result, carefree. They had, of course, picked new names to avoid rousing suspicions. He had picked Reginald, her, Lucinda. The names actually suited them rather well, considering that in this time the lunar colony was the new frontier. Though the people were the cream of the crop by human standards, he chuckled at the thought of how easy they would be as pickings when he got through conning them.

"You're right, dearest," he said, chuckling. "You go on and have fun. I think I'm going to visit the local scientists and see what happens when I offer them future technology." The two laughed as they continued gliding along the promenade, bouncing with every step.

Back at the Cafe in nowhere, The Mystic Avenger had just finished eating a stack of 15 pancakes and drinking half a pot of coffee. Meanwhile, Sapphire had been briefing him in on their full organization and what the Transients were, with considerable interruption and impatience from Steel.

"So let me get this straight," said The Mystic Avenger. "You fought a war with a group of shape shifting time travellers, stripped them of their powers and locked them so they couldn't get past 1960 CE?"

"That's right," said Sapphire. "There used to be well over 200 of us. Now we're down to the 111 that are here now."

"But the one thing you still haven't explained are who are the higher authority this higher authority the Transients have been working for, and more importantly, how they could trap you here," said The Mystic Avenger. "Presumably they would have para-temporal capability and would therefore fall under our radar. Your race is catalogued as temporal, but not powerful enough that they require a constant angelic observer."

"The 'higher authority' as Sapphire so politely puts it is a faction of our race that consider themselves superior to us and every other life form in the galaxy," said Steel. "They strut about like they are the Lords of Time, and figure it is perfectly within their rights to manipulate time, or protect it as they see fit."

The Mystic Avenger burst out laughing. "What's so funny?" asked Sapphire,

"Nothing in particular," said The Mystic Avenger. "Just a group I knew from another universe line who acted very much the same way. The only difference was that they didn't interfere, and the one of that group who did was considerably better about it than this lot. I helped bail him out a couple of times when he had to get involved para-temporally. Anyway, how did this higher authority manage to get you put in here?"

"That's what we're still trying to figure out," said Steel. "Their normal policy is to kill any of our kind who don't work for them."

"I remember that this was to be our future," said Sapphire. "When we stole the device which trapped us here, Silver let me look into it and all I saw was endless space."

"Endless and actual eternal space and time would have caused even your race to age," said The Mystic Avenger. "Again, this is how I know you're in my territory. Oh of course!" He slapped his forehead coming to a sudden realization.

"What are you thinking?" asked Sapphire.

"Exploitation of String Theory," said The Mystic Avenger. "Look, if your universe is any similar to the others in my sheaf, there will be at least two races that will discover proof for the inter-dimensional properties of the multi-verse, but won't be able to use them for a long time. One of those races is the human beings, just a few of decades ahead of you they discover what they are looking for. Now if they manage to crack space-time with their experiments, there 

should be a few basic cracks in space-time for people such as your own or the transient beings to cross through, even with basic time travel technology."

"Which means that if we locate it, we should be able to turn back time through it," said Steel. "Sapphire, see if you can locate even the faintest sliver of time." At this point, The Mystic Avenger offered his hand.

"Hold my hand while you are looking for it," he said. "Perhaps my extra-dimensional sight will help you locate it." Sapphire took his and Steel's hand, while Steel took The Mystic Avenger's other hand, and her eyes turned that bright blue again as she started to scan the cosmos for the slightest crack in time.

"Found it," she said as her eyes returned to normal. "It's just under a day passing from this angle."

"Then grab onto it and turn back time so we can get back home," said Steel. At that moment, a light flashed and an orb of golden light hovered in front of the three.

"What is that?" asked Sapphire and Steel simultaneously.

"This is my time globe," said The Mystic Avenger. "It controls my travel through Paratime, and also it also allows me to amplify my psychic abilities far enough I can glean basic info about a new universe I'm entering."

"So then why ask us about the Transient beings and the higher authority?" asked Steel irately.

"I said it only helps me glean basic info," said The Mystic Avenger. "I can gain information about events that have happened, geographical locations in space-time, and deviations from the correct timeline, but anything on culture or biology of species in that universe is generally not given to me. Also, there are limits to my powers in any given universe. I can travel through and manipulate time, psychokinetically manipulate probability, read minds, hear and transmit telepathically, use white light to ease pain and heal, and transfer between corporeal and incorporeal form, but that's the extent of my powers in any universe line. The only reason I can still tap extra energy to help you is because we are still in inter-dimensional space. Use the time globe to help provide the extra energy so you can take time back."

"That won't be necessary," said Sapphire, whose eyes were already starting to light up again. "I have a firm grip on the crack now and am pulling enough time through to take us back a day." A high pitched hum started to ring as time started to flow backwards. The Mystic Avenger enveloped himself in a shield of white light emitting from the Time Globe. All of a sudden, all three of them plopped down in the middle of a country road and the shield left The Mystic Avenger as the time globe vanished into thin air.

"What was that shield?" asked Steel.

"Temporal nullification zone," said The Mystic Avenger. "Unlike your lot, angels, in corporeal form, lose memories when time is reversed. So I set up the barrier to hold me in temporal stasis so that I knew what we were talking about once time had been taken back."

"That seems reasonable," said Sapphire. "So where are we?"

"According to what the Time Globe told me, we're back in your time," said The Mystic Avenger. "However, something feels off, like a deviation from the current timeline Aagh!" The Mystic Avenger suddenly collapsed to the ground, clutching his chest.

"What's wrong?" asked Sapphire, rushing over to him.

"It's this universe," he said. "Something is trying to rewrite my entire structure. It's turning me into another species."

"Describe the process," said Steel.

"My temporal powers are still there," said The Mystic Avenger. "But I can feel my psychic abilities rapidly deteriorating, and I'm starting to hear your thoughts without my controlling whether I want to or not."

"_You're becoming one of us_," thought Steel. "_This could be particularly bad if we're going to get you back to where you came from._" At that moment, The Mystic Avenger disappeared.

"Where did he go?" asked Sapphire.

"Mystic?" asked Steel.

"_Don't worry, I'm still here,_" said The Mystic Avenger. "_I've had to go incorporeal. I can feel the changes undoing themselves and I'm returning to normal. We're going to have to find a human whom I can join with or I'm going to have to stay incorporeal like this if I stay to help. Any longer than ten seconds corporeally and my body's DNA gets rewritten._"

"I might be able to help with that," said Sapphire. She touched the road, and her eyes went bright blue. "There is a town called Croydon coming up at the end of this road. Perhaps we can find a human there willing to help you."

"_Sounds good to me,_" said The Mystic Avenger and the three of them disappeared as they teleported to Croydon.

Reginald and Lucinda met up in the shuttle landing bay of Lunar Colony Alpha in 2048 CE, their arms bristling with parcels.

"Look, dearest," said Lucinda. "I've managed to get the most fabulous garments. Shall we find somewhere private where I can show them to you?"

"Not now unfortunately," said Reginald. "Our employers have just notified me that Sapphire and Steel have broken free of their imprisonment."

"But how is that possible?" said Lucinda. "We set that trap perfectly."

"All that the higher authority is telling us is that some unknown power has entered our universe and has freed them," said Reginald. "It doesn't really matter. But what does matter is the fact that Sapphire and Steel will be after us in revenge."

"Well then let us flee," said Lucinda.

"Not to worry," said Reginald. "I have a plan for dealing with those two. After we've set it up, how about we retire to the gardens of Babylon, where you can then show me those clothes." The two chuckled and disappeared.

As they entered Croydon, the three of them dropped in front of a church.

"Is this the sort of place you need?" asked Sapphire.

"_The Christian mythology should protect my true form_," said The Mystic Avenger. "_As long as I become corporeal here, I can hold out for a little longer until we can find a suitable host._"

Steel then walked up to the door of the church and tried to open it, but it was locked.

"What is the tumbler arrangement on this door?" he asked.

Sapphire walked up. "The spring is here, and the bolt, here," she said pointing to two different spots. Steel then telekinetically unlocked the door and the three entered.

"_Shut the door behind you,_" said The Mystic Avenger and then became corporeal and hovered. "That's better," he said as the doors were closed. He descended to the ground. Now, to find a priest or someone close by to help us.

All of a sudden, a priest walked in. "Who are you Ruffians?" he said.

The Mystic Avenger flapped his wings and flew into the air. Bathed in a golden white light, he shouted, "I AM UTHURIEL RUSHENKA, ANGELIC SERVENT OF THE LORD GOD MOST HIGH. WILL YOU DO THE LORD'S BIDDING?" The priest dropped to his knees and bowed his head.

"I obey the Lord in all things," said the priest. "But might I ask you to recite the Gloria, so that I might know you actually come from the Lord."

"GLORY BE TO GOD ON HIGH AND IN EARTH PEACE GOOD WILL TOWARDS..." boomed The Mystic Avenger as he stated the entire thing.

"I know now that you are of the Lord," said the priest. "What must I do?"

"THE FORCES OF SATAN ARE ATTEMPTING TO PREVENT ME FROM DOING GOD'S WORK," said The Mystic Avenger. "I REQUIRE A PERSON IN WHOM I MAY RESIDE FOR A SHORT PERIOD TO DO GOD'S WORK. IF YOU AGREE, YOU WILL STILL HAVE FULL CONTROL OVER YOUR BODY, BUT YOU WILL BE ASKED TO WORK ON GOD'S BEHALF AS HIS CONDUIT."

"I hear and obey," said the priest. At that moment, The Mystic Avenger turned into a ball of light and merged with the priest.

"Are you all right?" asked Sapphire.

"I'm fine," said The Mystic Avenger, sounding like the voice of both himself and the priest.

"Is the priest in control of himself?" said Steel.

"I am the priest," said The Mystic Avenger. "Somehow this angel merged his soul with mine. I have all his memories and abilities, yet I have retained my own consciousness. I understand the truth of the situation now, what can I do to help?"

"Well for starters, we'll have to contact Destiny and find out where we are needed next," said Steel. "We need to find out what's going on, and hopefully, where that transient who trapped us is."

"Sounds good to me," said The Mystic Avenger. All three of them disappeared, and all of a sudden reappeared in what seemed like 25th century computer room.

"Welcome to Destiny," said Steel. "This is the hub of the Intergalactic police force. Our race is the most advanced at this stage of the universe's history, and out of 4 billion inhabitants of our planet, only a few select 111 of us get powers to help seal cracks in time and keep the creatures from wreaking havoc."

"127 if you count the trans-uranics," said Sapphire.

"Again, you can't count on them because they are highly unstable," said Steel.

"So if there are only 111 of you, who do you answer to?" asked The Mystic Avenger.

"That person right there," said Steel, pointing at a woman in a black suit dress coming through the sliding door.

She was a rather petite woman; quite slender and no more than 5 and a half feet tall. Her stature was quite prim and proper. Her face was quite beautiful, perfectly shaped and symmetrical, offset only by a single mole on the left side of her forehead. Despite her apparent fragile nature, the look in her eye showed that she was boss and not to be toyed with. She reached out her hand in offering. "I'm Hydrogen," she said, shaking The Mystic Avenger's hand. "Welcome to Destiny."

"So is Destiny the name of your offices or the name of your planet?" asked The Mystic Avenger.

"The name of our planet," said Hydrogen. "Once we started looking in on time and became its protectors, fixing irregularities and such, we changed the name of our planet to reflect our race's intentions."

"How did you lot get involved in this?" asked The Mystic Avenger.

"We started serious research into parapsychology and the nature of time," said Sapphire.

"That's right," said Hydrogen. "We finally proved the existence of some 6 psychic abilities and eight ones for mind-matter interaction. Once we were able to use these abilities, we realized that there were fractures in time, so we looked for a means to cure them, and realized that only through the implementation of advanced psychic usage was this possible. Some 200 were initially trained to cultivate their abilities, and were all given code names to represent an element so we could track them. I, being an innate psychic, was named Hydrogen and placed in command, some 4 centuries of my planet's time ago."

"How long is that in Terran?" asked The Mystic Avenger.

"A century on our planet is approximately 10 000 earth years," said Steel.

"Your race is extremely long lived," said The Mystic Avenger.

"We virtually never age," said Hydrogen. "Every time an operative was killed in battle, we generally found another strong psychic to train and replace them. Unfortunately, the battle with the Transients destroyed a good third of our population and so our numbers have been reduced."

"Yes, I remember my time globe told me something about that," said The Mystic Avenger. "Something about a secondary race that developed similar powers to yours, but figured out how to make large quantities of trans-uranic elements purely by thought."

"It would have meant destruction for the universe," said Hydrogen. "So before they could actually implement the plan to hold all of time ransom, we attacked the home planet of the Transients, took away their ability to travel through time and locked them in the past. They could 

move around, but they were unable to transmute anything but themselves, and they could not pass the year 1960 CE in the Terran Calendar, so that they couldn't do any harm."

"But the one thing that still hasn't been explained is the so called higher authority these last few transients have answered to," said The Mystic Avenger.

"That's what we're trying to figure out," said Hydrogen. "They are a number of our upper ranks, people I answer to, who are trying to change policy and make it so not only do we heal and mend the cracks in time, but actually steer the entire of time to a vision of their own making."

"Megalomaniacs trying to create a perfect history," said The Mystic Avenger scratching his head. "I've seen this before. How many for certain are in so far?"

"That's the problem," said Hydrogen. "No one knows. And that's your next assignment." A high pitched hum could be heard as Steel's eyes turned a cold grey, Sapphire's a bright blue, and Hydrogen's a regal purple. "You have your briefing. See to it. And wipe this human's memory before you get started."

"Excuse me," said The Mystic Avenger. "I'll have you know I'm only bonded to a human. I am in fact an extra-dimensional being here on behalf of the Angelic Paratime Force. If anything, you lot should be answering to me as a representative of an even higher power than your 'higher authority'."

"Actually, that's precisely why I want your memory wiped and we shouldn't listen to you," said Hydrogen. "As soon as we developed our powers and started mending time, a representative of your race, calling himself a guardian angel, offered his services to help guide us through mending time. We didn't need help then, and we don't need it now. Did you notice that rewrite of your basic structure when you entered our universe? That was a warning sign placed up to all of your kind. You will either become one of us if you do temporal work here, or you are not welcome here. I will give you 5 terrestrial minutes to dislodge yourself from this human and leave our universe, or you will be mind-wiped with him." At that moment, two people grabbed his arms.

"Now hang on just a minute," said The Mystic Avenger. "Your operators were trapped in a cafe in inter-dimensional space by these Transient beings and the higher authority. Your records must show that. The moment your lot came into inter-dimensional space you fell under angelic jurisdiction. I freed your operatives, so that means you have no right to mind-wipe me."

"Hence the 5 minute grace period," said Hydrogen. "We thank you for the assistance, but you are now out of your jurisdiction. Under normal circumstances, we would have wiped you immediately for trespassing in our universe and possessing a human. It is 4 minutes and thirty seconds now. I strongly suggest you start dematerializing."

The Mystic Avenger promptly attempted to pull his hands into his center, but the grip on his wrists tightened and he started to buckle.

"Oh, and if you think using aikido will get you out," said Hydrogen, "remember that our race are approximately 3 times stronger than humans, so the human body you are possessing will simply have its arms broken if you try to center."

"Stop this," said Sapphire. "Look, I know policy dictates that any being that enters our universe and tampers with time is a bad thing, but so far, this angel has done nothing but help us. Perhaps we should take him up on his offer. We don't know how bad this thing is with the higher ups, we could use the extra help."

"Do you not remember basic training?" said Hydrogen. "Kanashuk are amongst the races that are supposed to be terminated on sight. The last thing we need is religion being imposed on our race like it has on every other."

"To be fair," said The Mystic Avenger straining at his wrists, "The races did that to themselves. They weren't as equipped for logical thought as we anticipated, and so they kept mythologized us and our simplified explanations of how their universe worked for far too long. If the humans had started on rational exploration of the universe early on, they would have figured out that our simplified explanation of how they came to be about was evolution. Your lot luckily were considerably more logical."

"We intend to stay that way," said Hydrogen. "Your kind poses a threat to our rationality." At that moment, she nodded and The Mystic Avenger saw nothing but black.

When The Mystic Avenger came to, he was strapped to a table and surrounded by two electro-magnets. He looked up and saw Hydrogen up in the observation room.

"We gave you a chance to dematerialize," she said. "But since you refused, you will be terminated via the mind wipe when this human's memories of here are wiped. He will be reinserted into his time period with no memory of having been here. However, should you try to free yourself from his memory and go incorporeal these two hyper-strength electro-magnets will pull apart your consciousness. You refused to use the grace period, so you will be executed for the crimes of trespassing in our universe, tampering with time, and possessing and controlling a member of a lesser species."

"Do I get a few last words?" asked The Mystic Avenger.

"Make it quick," said Hydrogen.

"Two problems I see wrong with your line of logic," said The Mystic Avenger. "One, to categorize all Kanashuk as a threat to your rationality is a stereotype. This is based on the critical thinking fallacies of a Hasty Generalization and the Fallacy of Division. The second problem is 

the fact that you have made these conclusions about my crimes by yourself. You as head of the investigation and patrol department, may have correct data, but could be jumping to conclusions. It might be a good idea to have an independent member of your race evaluate the situation, either in the form of a trial or something similar, to see if the case is strong enough to warrant my execution. Considering your race are more logical than most, I expect a trial would be considerably fairer here than on most planets in most universes."

"As to your second point, you already have been tried, by the entire race," said Hydrogen. "All of our race are now at least basically telepathic, so they were all shown the memories of Sapphire and Steel, along with the historical record pertaining to your race. They decided that the risk you posed being here outweighed the possible help you can give. As to your first point, we have considered your explanation of why the other races have deified yours, and we find that while it is logical, as you point out, other races are less logical. They could end up regressing back into a dark age of superstition the moment they saw you, not to mention which, you could end up exposing our race to others."

"Now hang on just a minute-" said The Mystic Avenger as he was all of a sudden cut off by the whirring up of the machine. A bright orange light started up beyond his head and started coming down towards him. He could hear the cackle of the electromagnets overhead. Like it or not he was trapped. At that moment, Hydrogen's eyes glowed purple and the machine stopped. The Mystic Avenger found his hands and feet free and he sat up raising an eyebrow.

"You've been set free," said Hydrogen. "It turns out my superiors want your sentence postponed, owing to a plea from Sapphire and Steel. You will be released into their custody. Should you attempt anything, or leave this universe, both you and they will be executed. Is that understood?"

"Perfectly," said The Mystic Avenger rubbing his wrists. The side door opened and Sapphire and Steel walked in. "Thanks guys," said The Mystic Avenger.

"Don't thank me," said Steel. "I was quite content to let you fry. Sapphire however seems to think you can be of some use to us. What with Silver being out of the picture at present and the time it will take for them to train a new technician for us, you will have to be his replacement."

"Sounds reasonable," said The Mystic Avenger getting up.

"Now there are few rules you are to follow while in our custody," said Sapphire. "You are not to use any of your angelic powers in sight of lesser groups. You are to use your time globe and extra-dimensional powers only to get us through doors we can't get through. Also, you are not, under any circumstances, allowed to leave this human's body or become incorporeal."

"I can handle that," said The Mystic Avenger. "This isn't the first time I've been confined to a human body." He chuckled at the thought. Sapphire put each of her hands to the side of The Mystic Avenger's head.

"I've been told to give you the full briefing," she said.

"That's ok," said The Mystic Avenger. "I can read you adequately myself." He then proceeded to read her mind, only to find he couldn't get anything.

"A condition of your postponed sentence," said Steel. "Owing to your existing in a human body, we have considerably more power to alter your abilities. Your telepathic powers have been blocked from anything beyond what our species is capable of. The last thing we need is you reading our minds and getting our plans before we implement them so you can escape."

"Fair enough," said The Mystic Avenger. "What about my other abilities and the time globe?"

"They are fully intact," said Sapphire. "But if you use them without the appropriate instruction, you will be teleported back here and executed, along with the two of us. So I would advise you to use your powers only when we tell you to."

"All right," said The Mystic Avenger shaking his head. "All right. Give me the briefing." Sapphire touched The Mystic Avenger's head and he started to get the briefing.

"Let's go," said Steel. All three of them disappeared.

In a dark room, on an unknown planet, a group of 6 people in dark hooded robes sat around a conference table and were arguing.

"Order!" shouted the person at the end of the table. "Everyone will get a chance to speak, but one at a time."

"Master Xenon, we wouldn't be in this mess if we weren't trying everyone's opinion one at a time," said one of the hooded figures. "You are our currently elected chairperson, you should make a decision. I've already stated that my position is the best way. If we had killed Sapphire and Steel in the first place instead of trapping them, this wouldn't have happened."

"You can't know that Helium," said another. "Perhaps this unknown power might have come through anyway."

"It isn't that unknown Argon," said another of the hooded figures. "We had a Kanashuk enter our universe, he's been dealt with."

"You can't possibly know that Neon," said Argon. "We've only ever had one Kanashuk in this universe. Perhaps it is some similar race, or even some entirely different power. If our 

universe opens up to other timelines, who knows what powers we would have to deal with. We already have enough trouble as it is trying to keep out all creatures and eliminate undesirable events from history plotting our Utopia. The last thing we need is another extra-dimensional force coming in and messing about. As I said before, our main focus should be on strengthening the temporal barrier of the universe, not taking out free thinking operatives until we are ready to make the coup." At that, more arguing erupted across the table.

"ENOUGH!" Xenon bellowed. The others fell silent. "Now," he said. "It has come to my attention that the Halogens, desperate to keep their popularity with the operatives, have released the unknown power. I also have found out from Fluorine, our Mole inside the Halogen government, that it actually is a Kanashuk, and he has been severely restrained courtesy of the barrier. I have seen to it that should he become a threat, he and Sapphire and Steel will die, which will take care of all of those problems at once. Now, back to the task at hand, which is to decide when and how the Nobles will reveal our plan to create a Utopia by purifying time. Do we do it this week or next?" All the Nobles got back to making plans.

Sapphire, Steel and The Mystic Avenger all materialized in an abandoned Warehouse. "What's the date?" asked Steel.

"October 31, 1984," said Sapphire. "The season is mid autumn, and the place appears to be the in the Industrial sector of London. This warehouse has been abandoned for some time."

"So we're here to fix a time break on October 31," said The Mystic Avenger. "Humans believe this was the time when the forces of Hell and the dead come back to haunt the living. If there is a time break here, I may need my full powers back."

"Oh no you don't," said Steel. "As I said, we can't have you escaping."

"You don't understand," said The Mystic Avenger. "A breakaway sect of my race actually formed a religion worshipping chaos, and did in fact settle in the dimension known as Hell. If there is an actual time break here, enough belief from Humans could summon one of them and they could and would destroy this universe. They are known as Demons, and even your kind are not powerful enough to stop them."

"And you can?" asked Sapphire.

"Depends on what their level is," said The Mystic Avenger. "There are three levels of Kanashuk. Level 1, which is your standard Guardian Angel. Level 2 or Cherubim, which are the organizational/warrior class. The Angelic Paratime Force is a group of Level 2 angels who specialize in the interactions between alternate timelines and the like. Then there are the Level 3 Kanashuk, better known as Seraphim or Archangels. The Demons have their own names for their ranks, but since they are effectively the same race as us, they have the corresponding power and understanding of reality levels. If a level 2 has been summoned, I will need my full powers to 

defeat it. If a level 3 has been summoned, I'll need to contact Archangel Gabriel back in my origin universe to send me power to defeat the level three."

"You said origin universe, and not home. Why?" said Steel.

"My home universe, which is my current base of operations, is another universe in this sheaf," said The Mystic Avenger. "Though I am an angel, my base of operations is a human body in another universe line. Now can you undo the restraints on this body and allow me access to my full powers? I'm going to need to check for traces of my own kind. In the event of a break, you're going to need me fully powered to defeat the demon."

"The barrier will take out it just as well as it took out you," said Sapphire.

"No it won't," said The Mystic Avenger. "As I said, they are effectively the same race, but they tap a different power source to ours. See, we prefer order, with chaos in its place. They prefer raw chaos unleashed. They tap a very different source of power, one of which could destroy your barrier completely. Let me have access to my full powers or your universe could be completely destroyed." No sooner had The Mystic Avenger said this then a demon appeared in a ball of fire.

"Long time no see Uthuriel," said the demon.

The Mystic Avenger took one look at him and said, "Chulthu."

"You know each other?" asked Sapphire.

"I relegated this demon back to the void more times than I can count," said The Mystic Avenger. "He just finished up a 500 year void sentence for having tried to destroy a universe entirely populated by fairies."

"Yes, and now that I'm out, revenge will be all the sweeter," said Chulthu. At that, he threw a fireball and The Mystic Avenger was thrown back into the wall, dazed. "Well that's interesting," said Chulthu. He closed his eyes, and fire burned around him for a second and then subsided. As he opened his eyes again he said, "I see, you've had to become human because of some barrier this lot put up." He gestured to Sapphire and Steel, who were now frozen in time. "It's a real pity. I was looking forward to getting a workout defeating you. Still, killing you will be fun." As he shot another fireball, a large black man stood in front of the fireball and it dissipated. He then walked over to Chulthu, grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, and proceeded to throw him against the wall. Sapphire and Steel unfroze.

"About time you showed up," said Sapphire.

"We don't need you Lead," said Steel. "We were doing just fine."

"Against that thing?" asked Lead. "I took a dent when the fireball hit me, and it seemed like that thing was just getting warmed up. We'd better go."

"No, not yet," said The Mystic Avenger. "This guy has to be sent back to Hell. Strictly speaking, he's done his sentence in the void, but he doesn't belong here."

"How do we send him back?" asked Lead.

The Mystic Avenger summoned the Time Globe and promptly started to hover, shining in a Golden White light. He made a cross of light which he fired at Chulthu, which then opened a portal, and enveloped the demon. The Mystic Avenger all of a sudden fell to the ground as the Time Globe disappeared and struggled to breath.

"What's wrong now?" asked Steel.

"It took more out of me than I anticipated," said The Mystic Avenger. "Being restrained in this human body while trying to access powers on that level destroys the body I'm bonded with. You have to remove the barrier if I am to help you." At that moment, all four of them appeared back in the computer room on Destiny. Hydrogen walked out and signalled guards to restrain them all. "Uthuriel Rushenka," she said. "You have violated our mandate on not using your para-temporal powers without explicit permission from your custodians. Per that violation, you, Sapphire and Steel are to be executed immediately."

"Now hold up," said Lead. "There were extenuating circumstances. Uthuriel here had no choice but to violate the conditions."

"Show me," said Hydrogen. She stuck her hands beside Lead's head, and her eyes glowed for a brief moment.

"I stand corrected," said Hydrogen. "It would appear you are attempting to help after all. And you are aware of the harm it is causing your human host, yet you wish to avoid it if possible. You will all be held here until the Halogens can decide what to do with you lot." Her eyes started to glow, and stayed that way for some time as the expressions on her face changed several times. Clearly, the conversation she was having was heated. After a little while, her eyes stopped glowing.

"It has been decided that you are a special case Uthuriel," she said. "It has also been shown that the barrier which we have used to block out your kind before is apparently not effective against all of your kind. We have decided that since the barrier is not effective, we will have to extrapolate a new one as this will take some time. However, since the barrier is not effective at present, and other inter-dimensional forces beyond our power are breaking in, we do require your assistance, so the barrier will be taken down and you will be allowed to maintain your corporeal angelic form. Note that we are not saying that you do not pose a threat, we just realize that desperate times call for desperate measures."

"I take that with humility and will help in any way I can," said The Mystic Avenger. He promptly left the memory of the priest and assumed full corporeal form again. The body of the priest slumped to the ground.

"Take the human for mind-wiping and reinsert him back in his appropriate time period," said Hydrogen. As the guards started to move towards The Mystic Avenger, Hydrogen said, "Leave the Kanashuk alone. He is a representative of the Angelic Paratime Force who we are formally inviting at this time to assist us in protecting our universe from an attempt to rewrite the timeline and replace it with another."

"The Angelic Paratime Force has accepted the invitation and has sent me as its representative," said The Mystic Avenger. With that, Hydrogen left.

"Well, I've got to get back to work," said Lead. "I was busy fighting a shift of 30 years displacement when I heard you lot in trouble." He disappeared.

The Mystic Avenger flexed his muscles and flapped his wings twice. "Considerably better," he said smiling. "Those human bodies can get considerably cramped after a while, and even corporeal form is somewhat restraining. Shall we go?" All three of them disappeared.

In 1840, Reginald was busy laying land mines all around the Speaker's Corner of Hyde Park. Lucinda appeared from thin air.

"Are you finished yet?" she asked. "I want to get out of here and go visit the moons of Scica-581-C."

"One more moment dearest," said Reginald. "If I don't set these time delay mines right, I can't kill Karl Marx before he writes his pivotal work. Altering the timeline must be done right."

"Very well," mumbled Lucinda. "Hurry up though. I want to get going as soon as possible."

"And that does it," said Reginald flipping a switch. "Tomorrow, Marx walks in and no more Communist Manifesto." He laughed evilly as the two of them disappeared.

Sapphire, Steel and The Mystic Avenger all of a sudden appeared in an empty room, all white with no apparent floors, doors or Windows.

"Where are we?" asked Sapphire.

"We should be on our way to the time break," said Steel. "We didn't need to get waylaid."

"KNEEL, ALL OF YOU," boomed a voice all around them.

"Lord God," said The Mystic Avenger and promptly bowed on one knee.

"I thought you said God didn't exist," said Sapphire.

"This is the originator," said The Mystic Avenger. "He's the one who hyper-evolved my kind to become sentient and become the Kanashuk race. He also is merged with the multi-verse. For all intents and purposes, he is God, and we still worship him as such."

"IT IS ALL RIGHT," said the Lord God. "YOUR FRIENDS HAVE FREE WILL TO WORSHIP ME OR NOT AS THEY CHOOSE. I HAVE BROUGHT YOU ALL HERE BECAUSE THE THREAT THAT YOU FACE IS CONSIDERABLY GREATER THAN ANY OF YOU IMAGINED."

"How so Lord?" asked The Mystic Avenger.

"IF YOU TRY TO CREATE A SINGLE TIMELINE, WHAT DO YOU HAVE?" asked the Lord God.

"Well presumably," said The Mystic Avenger. "You would lose the alternate probabilities that would spawn off from that as secondary timelines."

"EXACTLY," said the Lord God. "FOLLOW THROUGH WITH THE IMPLICATIONS OF THAT."

"Why there would be no alternate possibilities of any sort," said Sapphire.

"Our enemy wants us out of the way because we are the most successful operators, and independents," said Steel. "They want us out of the way so they can stop free will."

"PRECISELY," said the Lord God. "FREE WILL IS ESSENTIAL FOR SENTIENT LIFE. WITHOUT CHOICES AND DIFFERENT POSSIBILITIES, IT CANNOT PROBLEM SOLVE, IT CANNOT EVEN FORM LOGIC. SHUT A UNIVERSE OFF FROM ITS ALTERNATES, YOU REMOVE CHOICE AND CONDEMN AN ENTIRE UNIVERSE TO SLAVERY BY DEPRIVING IT OF FREE WILL."

"But Lord, how are we supposed to stop this threat?" asked The Mystic Avenger. "I've barely been able to get my full abilities back, and my connection to you has been weak since I've been in that universe."

"HENCE MY CALL OF ALL OF YOU HERE," said the Lord God. "YOU ARE ALL RECEIVING TEMPORARY POWER UPGRADES. UTHURIEL, YOU WILL BE CONNECTED DIRECTLY WITH ARCH-ANGEL GABRIEL'S POWER SOURCE TO GIVE YOU GREATER ACCESS TO LOCATING HOW FAR THIS GOES AND TO FREEZE THE ALTERNATE TIMELINES IN FLUX. SAPPHIRE, STEEL, YOU HAVE BEEN TEMPORARILY GIVEN THE POWERS UTHURIEL NORMALLY POSSESSES AND HAVE BEEN MADE HONORARY MEMBERS OF THE ANGELIC PARATIME FORCE FOR THE DURATION OF THIS CRISIS. I NOW RELEASE ALL OF YOU TO THE NEXT 

TIME DISTORTION. REMEMBER UTHURIEL. YOU ARE CHANNELLING LEVEL 3 POWER. DO THIS ONLY IN SHORT SPURTS SO AS NOT TO OVERLOAD YOURSELF. NOW GO, ALL OF YOU!"

At that moment, all of them suddenly appeared in Hyde Park in broad daylight. All three of them instantly sensed a major shift in time.

"Oh no," said The Mystic Avenger. "Locate Karl Marx. This timeline could be changed too far." As Sapphire and Steel rushed through the crowd, The Mystic Avenger snapped his fingers to suspend time in the moment of choice. Sapphire and Steel at that moment found Marx, and enveloped themselves in Temporal Nullification Points, just as time resumed, and 100 mines exploded in a group. Fortunately, casualties were few, and Marx survived to write another day.

"Let's go," said Sapphire. "I just picked up the trail of our miscreant." They all disappeared in a flash of light, and reappeared on a lunar outpost station orbiting a far planet.

"Well, Xfshar, we meet again," said Steel.

"It's Reginald for the moment," said Xfshar.

"Reginald, they've found us!" exclaimed Lucinda.

"Enough of your tricks Reginald," said Steel. "Give us the time travel device and tell us who gave it to you."

"You will never force it out of me," said Reginald. "I am a Transient being, and you don't have the power to force me to tell you anything."

"That's where you're wrong," said Sapphire as she and Steel closed their eyes. At that moment, Reginald felt a faint pulse as something scanned his mind. He put up a block, then felt searing pain as the power of bright golden light and the minds of two cherubim began to start breaking down his defences.

"Enough," said Reginald. "You don't have to read me for it. My bosses are the Nobles."

"Who are the Nobles?" asked Steel.

"It's what they call themselves," said Reginald. "All that I know is that they call themselves the Nobles, and they gave me the time travel box so I could come out of the past and travel through time. All I and my comrades had to do was neutralize you by trapping you for eternity. I swear. That's all I know."

"Release him," said The Mystic Avenger. "I already know the Nobles by their temporal signature. Luckily Reginald's subconscious mind here picked it up even though he consciously didn't." Sapphire and Steel subsided.

"Very well," said Steel, and they both opened their eyes. Reginald collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily and sweating profusely. He started to reach into his pocket, but The Mystic Avenger snapped his fingers and froze Reginald's body in place.

"First things first," said The Mystic Avenger. "We can't have you running around time and space creating havoc with a box like that. So we will take that from you and you will be returned to the past where you belong." Steel removed the box from Reginald's pocket.

"What about me?" asked Lucinda. "I'm a human. You can't punish me."

"Two things, Lucinda," said The Mystic Avenger. "One, yes we can, for having interfered with History, and secondly, you shouldn't be out of your time in the first place. Your memories will be wiped and you will be returned to 1948 where you belong. Sapphire, Steel, will you do the honours please?" All three snapped their fingers, and the time globes emerged. Steel and Sapphire made crosses, which opened time portals and sent Reginald and Lucinda back to their proper times.

"All right, now to deal with the Nobles," said The Mystic Avenger, and they disappeared in a flash of light.

The three alighted in a dark room, with no floors, doors or windows. In the center of the room suspended in space, was a conference table. The Mystic Avenger flew over and sat down at one of the chairs. Sapphire and Steel joined him in two others.

"So, this is the true source of the higher authority," said Steel.

"Well for a group so high up, I thought that they would have better taste for decor," said Sapphire.

"It suits our purposes fine," said a voice. All three swivelled around in their chairs, to see a group dressed in hooded red robes.

"And who might we be addressing?" asked The Mystic Avenger.

"I am Krypton," said the one who had just been speaking. "These are my fellow five colleagues, and ah, here comes our current chairman." In floated the sixth hooded figure.

"I am Xenon," said the chairman. "You've met Krypton already. The other four are Helium, Neon, Argon and Radon. We are the Nobles. And you, underlings, are trespassing into your superiors' office."

"You are being placed under arrest by the Intergalactic Police for conspiracy to interfere with time," said Steel.

"You are an underling and have no authority to question us," said Xenon.

"No, but I do," said The Mystic Avenger. "Again, you are all under arrest, on the charges of interfering with time, attempting to destroy parallel timelines, and illegally accessing the multi-verse without permit from the Angelic authorities."

"And you are?" asked Argon.

"I am The Mystic Avenger, Paratime Angel Extraordinaire, member of the Angelic Paratime Force, and Overseer for Inter-dimensional Affairs for Universe Sheaf 42, of which your universe and its secondary timelines, are a part," said The Mystic Avenger. "You have violated Inter-dimensional law by placing two people in a prison outside of time, in inter-dimensional space, without recognized paratemporal technology, or consent from a duly appointed representative by the Angelic Paratime Force. You will be arrested, tried in Universe Sector 001, and if found guilty, sentenced to spend several of your millennia in the Void."

"Do you know why we are called the Nobles?" asked Xenon. Steel raised an eyebrow.

"Oh come now," said Xenon. "Surely you must realize you are dealing with the Noble gases. Perfectly chemically inert, poisonous to life when inhaled, all except for Helium who requires high doses. We are Noble and perfect. The universe will follow us. I already have a Mole in your government, Fluorine, who even as we speak, is assassinating the other Halogens. As soon as he is done, we will unleash our temporal powers on this universe, seal it off, destroy all other residents of Destiny, and rule the universe in a perfect Utopia. No change, no free will, all perfect."

"Problem with that line of reasoning," said The Mystic Avenger. "No change means stagnation. Also, no one is perfect but the Lord God, and his perfection IS change. Sapphire, Steel, you know what to do."

All of a sudden, the two time globes appeared and began to glow as crosses were formed and sent at the Nobles. The nobles hummed and the crosses shattered.

"Puny angelic tricks will not work on us," said Krypton. "We were the ones who designed the barrier to block out the Kanashuk."

"So that was your doing?" asked The Mystic Avenger.

"Of course," said Xenon. "By the way, it's our turn." The Nobles shot bolts of crimson red light that started to draw energy away from the three and they started to buckle.

"We couldn't have your kind here," said Xenon. "Our universe was already perfect before your kind came along. Destiny became the center for time mending because we wanted to protect things as they were. Then one of your kind came along, and started offering new concepts. Our universe was already in danger from the creatures that haunt the corridor of time. Your kind are just one more menace to our universe. You, along with these renegades, Sapphire 

and Steel, will be destroyed, and we will block out all other timelines to protect those which live within this universe." At that moment, The Mystic Avenger's aura turned from Golden White Light to Searing White Light. He broke through the barrier and began to shine radiantly.

"Don't you understand?" said The Mystic Avenger. "Change is actually necessary for life to progress and expand. Your so called protection would only stunt the growth of sentient life. Granted that at this period in history, there are many races that can't handle Paratime, but they must make the discovery of it, and choose what to do with it, on their own." He created a cross, shot it at the Nobles, then swung his hand in a circle three times shouting, "White Light Tornado!" and a swirl of bright white light surrounded the Nobles and bound them together. "Sentient races will eventually develop logic and open-mindedness on their own," he said. "They must deal with the bigger multi-verse through that at their own pace."

"You still haven't won," said Argon. "We have but to focus our powers and take this universe with us. If we can't protect it, we will destroy it to prevent it from being contaminated by the likes of you." All of a sudden, the Nobles' collective aura started to expand.

"Quick, Sapphire, Steel, temporal nullification zones, now!" yelled The Mystic Avenger. All three of them expanded White light zones around the Nobles.

"The Nobles will eventually destroy themselves when released," said Sapphire. "What should we do?"

"Simple," said The Mystic Avenger. "Take them back in time to when they first started planning this revolution. We will nullify the entire part of the timeline and switch it to an appropriate secondary."

"Whatever we do, let's do it now," said Steel. All three disappeared in a flash of light, and all of a sudden, the tied up Nobles appeared at the first meeting of the Nobles originally. Their aura exploded, killing their past selves, and wiping themselves from existence. Sapphire, Steel, and The Mystic Avenger all materialized in the computer room. In walked Hydrogen.

"Sapphire, Steel, welcome back," she said. She looked at The Mystic Avenger. "Who are you?"

"It's a long story," said Sapphire. "It will be in our briefing."

"No need," said Hydrogen. "I've already received a report from Silver about a deviated timeline and how Transient beings tried to trap the lot of you." She turned to The Mystic Avenger. "Once again, we have to thank the Angelic Paratime Force for having intervened. I trust you will be sending Kanael back to advise us now that the crisis has passed?"

"I was unaware this universe even had a Stage 10 representative," said The Mystic Avenger. "I was under the impression only Guardian Angels, stage 9 and under, worked here."

"Oh, we have an adviser," said Hydrogen. "Otherwise, we wouldn't have the relevant information to keep out half of the creatures that try to break in here. We just choose not to use paratemporal capability. We figure that is better left to the professionals, such as your lot."

"Reasonable," said The Mystic Avenger. "I'm sure Kanael will be back shortly. Meantime, I must be off. I still have a ton of things to do in the rest of my sheaf, and I must return to my host body as he has to study for class. See you around."

"Before you go, what about these powers of ours?" asked Sapphire.

"Oh, that," said The Mystic Avenger. "As we teleported back here, the Lord God took those back. I'm actually rather glad to be back to normal. I've also got to check about whether or not any demons had a hand in creating that barrier against my kind. Not even the most powerful of your race, and no offence meant, have that kind of power. Well, I'm off."

Steel shook his hand, "Drop in any time."

"Bye Mystic," said Sapphire smiling.

"See you lot later," said The Mystic Avenger. He winked, and disappeared, in a flash of light.


End file.
